Grandpa's Knives

M

MountainManStan

Joined
Apr 29, 2017
Messages
19
My grandfather recently passed and along with his large assortment of firearms he had a few hunting knives he used back in the day. I was hoping someone could give some more insight into them, I want to brighten them up a bit back to their original glory, but would love some history on them too. I have a Western 539 stag handle, a leather wrapped Marbles, and a Boker USA 93 (tree) 61. I don't want to sell these, but I would love more info on them so please help me learn more about them, and thank you in advance! https://imgur.com/a/ngjG1 for pictures!!


All shined up!! (I will wet stone the blades when I get home next week, but I wanted to bring them back to life like when they were carried by my grandpa) https://imgur.com/a/3lVEa
 
Last edited:
Are the blades rusty, or do they have a patina?
If the former, 0000 steel wool with mineral oil (available in the pharmacy section) is as rough as I'd go.
If the latter, wipe down with a rag and mineral oil.
For the stacked leather handle on the Marbles, saddle soap and a toothbrush should clean it up nicely.
 
Upload a decent picture or two here https://postimages.org/ then post them here.

Just upload, hit the blue icon at the hotlink for forums to copy it, then paste it here.


We will need some pictures so we can best advise you on what to do or not to do.
 
Pictures really help with this sort of thing. Also, it is just always cool to see the knives that have passed through generations
 
Three nice ones! The Marble’s edge might need some TLC, but the bone on that Boker is gorgeous!
Thanks, Neal
 
Looks like all of those would be fine with some 0000 steel wool on the rust and mineral oil with a rag on the rest. As mentioned. Saddle soap on the leather handle. Nice old knives.--KV
 
Stan,
I don't have any info on the knives except to know that they are nice.
When You get them cleaned up a bit, I would store them separately from the sheaths.
Please post some "after" photos when You get time.
 
Great find, with minimal those pieces should clean up nicely.
Follow the advise given previously and you should be in good shape.
 
Clean off any rust with some mineral oil and fine steel wool.
The mineral oil is available for around 3$ at any pharmacy.

The all of the leather will probably need a cleaning with some saddle soap, and some neats foot oil.
Not sure exactly where to get these thought.
 
Great Old Knives, none of any particular huge $ value.
As others have said - the Boker scout is a neat old Knife- none of those Knives actually are in any need of cleaning, all you are going to do is take away your Grandfathers use and memory "imprint" on his Knives, the only time I would consider using - and only using this- is if there is active rust - Red/ Brown in Colour.

The Western Colo "Siberian Skinner" is in good shape- and there's not a lot of these Western Knives around- and that one of your Grandad's is in very good "Honest" shape- and I would rather buy the knife in this condition- than cleaned.

0000 is the only grade of Steel wool that wont shine up metal- if used correctly- with Mineral oil ( Baby Oil ).
What I would do is rinse the Joints out with detergent and very warm water - dry this out with a air Gun/ Compressed Air - flush out the Joints with WD40 ( WD stands for Water Displacement ) - -again..flush the joints out with Air- then uses a few drops of the Mineral Oil - work the Blades so the Oil can works it's way down through the Springs etc- jobs done!
 
kvaughn said:
Are the bolsters on the Boker aluminum? They have that dull look. .==KV
Click to expand...
It looks like it is on the Western, I almost thought it was added later because it looks strange on the knife and doesn't appear to be machine made. But the boker bolsters match the emblem and had more tarnish than I imagine aluminum would
 
N.E.Tim said:
Stan,
I don't have any info on the knives except to know that they are nice.
When You get them cleaned up a bit, I would store them separately from the sheaths.
Please post some "after" photos when You get time.
Click to expand...
Will do! Already almost finished with them, spent the day on the handles and they just need a little more touching up. I won't be able to get the edges back in shape till next week when I go home unfortunately.
 
I finished the handle work, and will complete the blades next weekend! Check out the picture in the heading and let me know if you want more pictures!
 
Looks great! Nice job on the clean up. Not overdone. Congrats on some really nice family heirlooms that you can actually use.--KV
 
The Western 539 was made between 1954/1955, when Western started putting model numbers on the pile side ricassos and 1960, as Western shifted to using Delrin plastic rather than stag (539) or bone (639) for handle material for 1961 and later.
 
Campbellclanman said:
none of those Knives actually are in any need of cleaning, all you are going to do is take away your Grandfathers use and memory "imprint" on his Knives,
Click to expand...

Like Duncan said, they really don't need any cleaning and unless you're going to be using them, which is perfectly fine I use my grandfather's knife more than I thought I would and wound up cleaning it.

I get a lot of enjoyment cuttin' up kielbasa and smoked meats like he used to do with me. I keep my Old Man's knives as the were the day he died because it has all the memories of our many trips into the wilderness. It also has the stains that showed how he left this earth so it sits uncleaned, unused providing a moment frozen in time like a snapshot and that's all it is. My grandfather's knife continues doin' what it's always done, shared food with a friend or a loved one and still cut up the szalonna, kielbasa and veggies for lunch,

Ask yourself what your ultimate goal for the knife is and deal with it accordingly. Last thought, I've never seen someone say, Boy am I sorry I kept my grandfather's knife. Memories have more impact when you can hold a piece of it in your hands.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top